Baked Macaroni and Cheese Balls

A couple of weeks ago I made mac and cheese for dinner, and since is just the two of us we had leftovers. My husband always says that I'm the queen of mac and cheese because I take a simple boxed recipe and turn it into something we really enjoy and can't stop eating it. The day I made the mac and cheese I told my husband we were going to have a leftovers night the next day, and of course he was OK with it.

The day came and I felt like I wanted to do something different and fun with the leftovers, so I started the research and found this amazing idea to which I added my own touch and additions. 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese Balls 

About 2 cups leftover macaroni and cheese (homemade or from a box)

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used Italian breadcrumbs, but any kind will do)

1 Tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Creamy Sauce

½ cup whipping cream

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Make sure leftover macaroni and cheese is really cold. I suggest putting it in the freezer for about 20 minutes before preparing.

While the macaroni and cheese is chilling in the freezer, get out three bowls. Add flour to one bowl, the egg to another and the breadcrumbs to the remaining bowl. Whisk the egg slightly to break it up. Season the flour with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with aluminum foil. Drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil on aluminum foil and spread around to coat the foil evenly.

When macaroni is chilled, remove from freezer. Scoop a tablespoon amount of macaroni and cheese and roll it around in your hands to make sure the ball is tightly packed.

Roll each ball through the flour, then the egg, and lastly the breadcrumbs. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven, flip the macaroni balls over, and bake another 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm with various condiments and dipping sauces.

For the sauce:

Put all ingredients in a small pot and cook it until it thickens. Use as dipping sauce or drizzle on mac & cheese balls.

My husband was expecting to have the same thing for dinner as the night before but when he got home and saw this amazing looking dish on the table his jaw dropped, and when he tried it the reaction was even better. This recipe was amazing and definitely will be making it again. 

Delicious Ranch Burger

As I was thinking what to make for dinner yesterday I came across this idea, adding ranch seasoning to the ground beef to make burgers. I immediately started gathering my ingredients which weren't a lot, that's what makes this burgers more interesting. Let's get to work!!!!

You'll need:

2 lbs ground beef
1 pk ranch seasoning
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 onion chopped
handful grape tomatoes chopped (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the grill for high heat.

In a bowl, mix the ground beef, ranch dressing mix, egg, bread crumbs, onion and tomatoes. Form into hamburger patties.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Place patties on the grill, and cook 5 minutes per side, or until well done.

You can also cook them on the stove top, but I recommend cooking them on medium heat so you don't smoke up your house.

Top these delicious burger patties with your favorite burger sides, on a bun or on tortillas. However you eat them, these juicy and tasteful patties will make your mouth water and ask for more.

I made a sauce to go with them; personally I thought it was the bomb and gave the burgers an extra kick of flavor.

Burger Sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp yellow mustard, 4 slices kosher dill pickle (chopped), 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp paprika, pinch cayenne pepper. Mix everything in a small bowl and drizzle it on your delicious burger. I recommend you making this ahead of time so all the flavors come together.

My hubby ate the first half and was satisfied but couldn't stop eating it, so ended up eating the whole thing. That's how good and juicy this burger was. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Update:
I made this no bun burger last night 6/23/14 for dinner with the same burger recipe, it was amazing!!!!

Bacon Rice Pilaf Stuffed Peppers

This is a new one for me, because I normally put meat in my stuffed peppers. Yesterday I wanted to do something different so I decided to omit the meat and add some bacon. My house smelled so delicious and dinner was to die for.

Here is what you need:

1 1/4 cup rice
2 cups broth (your choice)
5 slices of bacon - cooked
bacon drippings
1/4 chopped yellow pepper
1/4 chopped orange pepper
1/4 chopped red pepper
1/2 chopped onions
1 minced clove garlic
Mushrooms (optional)
1 tsp curry
salt
pepper
You will need the rest of the yellow, orange and red pepper
1/2 cup cheese
bacon to garnish

Directions:

Step 1:  Heat a medium saucepan over med-high heat. Chop 5 slices of bacon and add it to the saucepan. Cook until the bacon is browned. Remove the bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels. Pour out all but 1 tbs. of the bacon drippings.

Step 2:  Add 1 chopped onion, a grated clove of garlic, peppers and 1/2 cup chopped  mushrooms to the pan. Saute for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:  Add 1 cup converted white rice and stir to combine. Cook the rice until lightly toasted, stirring constantly. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tsp. curry powder and the reserved bacon (if you have a rice cooker at this point you can just throw everything in it, add the 2 cups of broth and let it do its thing).

Stir over med-high heat for another couple of minutes, until the curry powder is fragrant. Add 2 cups broth of your choice and bring to a boil. Give the rice a good stir, lower the heat to med-low, and cover. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Step 4:  After 20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and set aside for 5 minutes to let any remaining liquid absorb back into the pilaf. Stir in two sliced green onions and 1 tbs. flat-leaf parsley.

Step 5: Place your peppers facing down in a baking dish, cover them with plastic wrap and place them in the oven for about 3-4 minutes or until they are tender. Let them cool down.

Step 6: Pour some red sauce in the baking dish you are using to bake the peppers. Take each pepper and stuff it with the rice pilaf, place them in the baking dish, sprinkle each one with cheese. Set your oven to 350 degrees. Cover your peppers with aluminum foil making sure that the foil doesn't touch the cheese (it will stick to the foil if it touches it) and bake for 30-40 minutes. 

Step 7: I promise this is the last step!!!! Serve your peppers and garnish with some crispy bacon. I made some black beans as a side but you can make your favorite side. Enjoy!!!!

I made three stuffed peppers but you will have enough rice left to make at least six. Give it a try!!

Hope I'm not forgetting anything and that all the steps make sense. :) Have a bless day.

Homemade Chicken & Gnocchi Soup

Last weekend we went to Olive Garden with the in-laws, and my father in-law order this soup that looked so delicious to me. I really wanted to try it but he was sharing it with his granddaughter so I decided not to ask.
After we left I was still thinking about the soup and decided that I was going to make it myself. Feeling very determined I looked for a recipe and found the perfect one, it was even inspired by the Olive Garden soup; so, Monday night my hubby and I went grocery shopping and I got a couple things I needed for it.

I got to tell you, this soup is so delicious!!!! My husband is not crazy about creamy soups and he almost ate the plate where I served the soup. I also made some bread knots to go with it and he used the bread to clean the plate almost to the point where it looked clean, that how good it was!!!


Here is what you need:

1 tablespoon extra virgin oil

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

3 cups of milk (we used 2%)

1/2 cup celery, finely diced

1/2 cup onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 cups of low sodium chicken broth depending on how thick you like your soup

1 cup shredded carrots

1-2 cups of shredded chicken, I used 2 chicken breasts chopped in small pieces and cooked.

1 package gnocchi, cooked or the equivalent homemade

handful of spinach leafs, ribboned

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon parsley

Directions:

1.) Heat the butter and olive oil in a large soup pot. Saute the onion, celery and garlic in the oil and butter until tender.

2.) Stir in the flour and cook for a minute before adding in the milk. Add the carrots and chicken and let the mixture simmer until it starts to thicken.

3.) While it is simmering, cook the gnocchi according to the directions on the package. Strain and set aside.

4.) Once mixture is thickened, add chicken broth to reach desired consistency.Once mixture tightens up again, add the gnocchi, spinach and seasoning. Simmer until fully heated through.

5.) Serve with your own version of salad and bread sticks and enjoy the tastes of Olive Garden right in your own home!

I of course made a couple changes but not many. I'm not a fan of celery, so I didn't add any in the soup. I also added an extra cup of broth and it was still creamy, I did that because after the soup gets to room temperature it gets thicker and even more when you refrigerate it. I also added a pinch more of salt, but you don't have to. The gnocchi I cooked it before I started the soup because once you start, everything goes by very fast and is better to have all your ingredients ready and at hand.

Hope you try making this and enjoy it as much as we did. Have a bless day!!!

Bread Machine Dinner Knots

I absolutely love bread!!! and when I can make it at home fresh from the oven it's even better. The best thing about this recipe is that my bread machine does all the kneading job for me, I just have to shape it the way I want. If you have a bread machine you have to try this delicious bread recipe.

Ingredients:

1 c water

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 large egg

3 1/2 c bread flour

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp yeast

Directions

1. Put all ingredients in above order into bread machine

2. After dough cycle completes, remove and shape as rolls or knots, placing them on a pan lined with parchment paper.

3. Cover with a towel and let rise 30 mins in a warm place

4. Heat oven to 350

Brush tops of rolls with butter prior to baking. I use about 2 tablespoons

5. Bake 20-25 minutes on the highest rack possible in your oven

6. Brush with honey butter if desired to give them a slightly sweet taste, as soon as they are removed from the oven.

I'm making chicken & gnocchi soup for dinner tonight and this knots will be by its side. I just spread regular butter after they were done but you can spread them with garlic butter or your choice. 

Enjoy!!!

Apple Cinnamon Crescent Roll Bites

Desserts don't need to be big and time consuming if you just want to surprise a love one or just have a sweet treat after dinner.

I love to surprise my husband with this little treats because he loves sweets, did I mention LOVES!!! Yes, he is a big kid when it comes to desserts, chocolates, ice cream, all of that. 

Today  I decided to make some easy mini apple pies from things that I already had at home. Here is what I used.

Ingredients:

1 apple-cut into small pieces

1 8 oz can crescent rolls

2 tbsp butter- melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

a pinch of nutmeg

a pinch of ground ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out crescent dough and separate crescents. In a mixing bowl, mix the pieces of apples with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and butter (leave 1/2 tbsp to spread on top of our crescent bites) Spray cupcake pans with cooking oil so our bites won't stick. Put a triangle into each space and spoon some of the apple mixture.

 Put the tips together to close our crescent roll bites and then spread with the leftover butter and sprinkle with sugar and a little bit of cinnamon.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with some ice cream on the side or just by itself.

                      

                                 

  Enjoy!!! 

Zucchini Pasta

My mother in law gave me this awesome veggie slicer that also cuts potatoes for french fries, and it came with a grater that you can also use to make coleslaw or zucchini strings. So I used it to make my zucchini pasta, because I wanted to try something new.

This is the picture of the awesome Pro Smart Slicer.

I only had 2 zucchinis so I had to run to the store to buy at least 2 more because zucchini will reduce in amount when you get all the liquid out, plus since it's not real pasta it won't fill you up as a real carb would. 

Ingredients:

4 zucchinis

kosher salt

pro smart grater

fine mesh strainer

pepper

tomatoes 

pasta sauce

Directions:

Wash zucchini and trim ends. I recommend taking the time to peel each zucchini. The "noodles" look more like pasta when the skin is removed. Get your pro smart grater ready or you can also use the Julianne blades which are used to make thin French fries if you want your “noodles” to look a little bit thicker than mines (angel hair). Proceed to slide the zucchini over the Pro Smart blades lengthwise to get the longest noodles possible until you are left with a thin sliver that is pretty much impossible to slice.
Transfer the zucchini noodles to a mesh colander and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt. Toss to distribute and leave colander over a mixing bowl or the sink to drain. Let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes, giving an occasional squeeze.
Now it’s time to give these noodles some flavor!!! Transfer your noodles to a hot pan with a little bit of olive oil and then stir in some spaghetti sauce and add salt and pepper to taste, last but not least the tomato pieces to give your noodles more texture and color.

When hubby saw the "noodles" the first thing he said was "oh wow!! angel hair pasta, and you made it look so beautiful" and when he tried it the look and the taste were joined together :) We loved this and next time I will make them with my thin Julianne blades to make my noodles thicker then these ones.

If you don't have a pro smart slicer you can also use a regular grater like this one. But make sure to use it  lengthwise to get the longest noodles 

Hope you enjoy this recipe!!!